This is the most important lesson in the world: throw the censor in your mind into the ocean. You don't need them. They can do nothing but hurt you. Whole books have been written about how the censor in your mind is what destroys your writing.

And when it's written, rewrite it, be embarrassed because it's not as good as you hoped, release it anyway, and write another.

And another.

And another.

You become the author of your dreams by fucking up. You HAVE to write garbage first.

And even the garbage will be beloved by some.

How do you give yourself compassion while you work on your craft and it isn’t where you want it to be yet? I think that’s my biggest barrier to self-improvement, especially with art.

Learning about proscriptive vs. descriptive language was very healing for me (highly recommend looking it up), but I will die on the hill that “literally” is the one word that should keep its one fixed definition.

And yet *verifying* information you find online is harder than it’s ever been.